Lazy Days

(Before I write about today's ride, I'd like to point all of my readers over to Over Fences and Under Trees, where my friend Lynn has started blogging about her progress with her lovely quarter horse, Max.)

Max says "Nope."

When Lynn and I made plans to meet at the barn at 10:30 this morning, I knew I'd be tired and grumpy and not wanting to roll out of bed and leave Rutgers by 9:30, but that I'd be able to do it.  I wasn't expecting to get a call at 3:45 AM from a very drunk Bekka, who had to explain to me in absolute amazement that she found a door with a lock on the outside.  After that call, I wasn't able to get back to sleep until about 5 AM, so when my alarm went off at 9, I grumbled and snoozed and seriously considered cancelling my barn plans.

However, my bad-pony-mom guilt got the best of me, and I bundled up and made the drive down I-95 and 206.  By the time I got to the barn, the sun had claimed a good portion of the sky and I was able to shed some layers and enjoy the nice weather.  I wasn't the only one enjoying the sun's rays - as I was pulling in to the barn, Lynn called me half laughing and half worried, because she couldn't get a lazy Max to stand up after she caught him sunbathing.  She managed to get him up and he begrudgingly followed her into the barn while I walked out to get Gali....

who had decided, along with his pasturemate Tig, that today was certainly a day good for sunbathing and not much else.   Luckily, I didn't have to battle to get Gali up, and soon we joined our friends tacking up in the barn.  Lynn and I have similar goals and similar problems - both of us have had our confidence shaken by past riding experiences, and both of us are looking for something to work towards this year, even if we aren't 100% sure what that is yet.  We've made a plan to motivate each other and help push ourselves past our comfort zones, and today was the first day acting on that plan.

We were successful, sort of!  Our original plan was to go around the track, but after warming up in the ring, I semi-bailed on that.  Gali was a mixture of sore (I believe the sledding took more out of him than he wanted to admit!) and spirited, which led to some refusal to go forward and some spookiness.  I got him working well enough in the ring at the trot, but I didn't really make him work all that hard.  Max was being very lazy for Lynn, but after she got after him and practiced using the crop without letting go of the reins, he began to pick up his feet and move out.

While we were in the ring, I walked Gali over some crossrails and ground poles so that Lynn and Max would follow, and Gali seemed to have fun walking over the jumps.  That's some sort of cross training, right?  I was tempted to let him hop over one or two, since they were just set at about 18", but I refrained.  I do wish he was able to jump, because he loves it, and I'd love to be able to take him out XC schooling and hop him over small things.  It's a shame his ringbone really stops us from exploring that type of cross training.

After the ring work, we walked halfway around the track and back.  It wasn't much, but considering Gali was looking at everything like it was going to eat him, and at the same time making ugly faces when Max would get too close, it was something.  Max, on the other hand, was absolutely perfect outside of the ring, and while Gali was next to him eying up the dangling wind chimes, he was looking around without a care in the world.

It wasn't the spectacular ground-breaking day that I envisioned it would be, but sometimes we just all need lazy days relaxing in the sun.  Next week, a friend of ours from Nouveau is moving her 27 year old OTTB over to the farm, and I know she's going to really help kick me into shape, and her gelding is the absolute best trail buddy anyone could ask for.  I'm looking forward to that, and the adventures that will certainly follow!